c. It is used to depict the thief-like movements of military deserters. (2 Samuel 19:4)

2. GAZAL is used to emphasize the violent seizing of property.

a. It would fit the term “robbery.”

b. It is used of people who lie in wait and rob those who come along the road (Judges 9:25)

c. One of the most violent horrors of the ancient world was the practice of flaying people, that is, literally skinning them alive. Micah has such flaying in mind when he uses this verb in Micah 3:2, ‘You who hate good and love evil, who tear the skin from off them...and who flay their skin.

B. The “burglary” was to be punished by a graded scale.

1. A 200% penalty was levied if the property was returned unharmed (Exodus 22:4, 7, 9).

2. A 400% or 500% penalty was levied if the property was damaged or destroyed (Exodus 22:1).

3. A 700% penalty was levied if the property stolen was food (Proverbs 6:30-31).

4. Personal indenture was enforced if the thief could not pay the monetary levy (Exodus 22:3).